You should be given the choice in what you wish to believe but many people try and force their religion on you and in some places you have no choice.

It should be a choice and yet take the Christians for example they baptize a child whom is only a few months old making them a part of their religion and yet the child has been given no choice in the matter, they are expected to follow the ways of the religion chosen for them (I come from a Christian family).

This should be a choice and not a thing forced into but in many cases it isn't.

I have said this on other posts, but I see belief as being made of 3 parts (in the simplest iteration)

1) What you say you believe
2) What you want to believe
3) What you actually believe

The first 2 are easy. I can say I believe in Santa and I can want to believe in Santa. I have clear choices there for what I say and what I want. The third however, is not really a choice. I may say I believe it, I may want to believe it, but I can't run from the fact that I either do or do not believe it.

I think there is a fair percentage of churchgoers who are Christians in the sense that they exhibit qualities 1 and 2, but are so scared of hell and doubt, they will never dare seek the true answer for number 3.

"Believing" is not a static state and requires active swatting down of incoming information to the contrary. By contrast, atheism is relatively relaxing and does not require weekly or daily recharging or reinforcement. I do not need to to practice a ritual for fear that my unbelief may slip away. As a former believer, I think there was a time of decision to trust my own reason and abandon fear, coercion, and superstition.

Try as I might, I found that I could not "believe" without actively sticking my fingers in my ears, singing songs to drown out my own reason, performing a self-lobotomy to ensure that only correct thinking happened inside my head.

I guess it sorta is a choice. To me being an Atheist means you choose to live life without God and use common sense vs. scripture to solve issues.
You can still be friends with people who are Christians, but anyone who tells you that you're stupid because you choose to be an Atheist is not your friend. Part of tolerance is knowing you don't agree but choosing not to be prejudice against someone.